"Nay," Mercedes replied, still scanning over the village, "and strangely I feel as though vampires may actually [i]not[/i] have passed through here. There seems to be something more beyond." Turning back to face Father Alder as he chanted, she continued on with her ominous feelings. "The golemn is one thing, but there are aspects here that do not smell of vampires. What I sense..." she paused, looking to the sky as it began to rain, "is something altogether more evil and unnatural." When the rain turned into a storm, and lightning followed, Mercedes understood instantly that there was something coming. No longer caring of keeping herself concealed from the villagefolk, she stood herself up and brought her crossbow to bear.

And there they were -werewolves, if she could guess at all- headed straight for the village. And yet, they gave off an air of being something different than mere werewolves. It was because of this that she did not charge in steadfastly. Horrible as it was, she wished to see what they were capable of. Their speed, their ferocity, their murderous nature and how far it went. Nevertheless, she kept her crossbow trained on the one at its forefront, the largest of them all. But as they encircled upon a young girl, Mercedes would wait no longer. With agility befitting of a monkey in the trees, Mercedes hopped upon a taller roofline nearby and ran across its shingles to the town center as hastily as possible. With a single leap and a following roll, she found herself in the very heart of the charging pack, and by the girl's side.

Without even asking for permission or a word for that matter, she scooped up the girl in her arm and aimed her grappling gun back to the very roof she jumped from. Almost as soon as she had jumped into the fray, she was out once again, barely missing the talons of a few Ghoukas. Yanked up onto the two-story building, she let the girl stand back upon her feet, a worried look upon Mercede's face.

"What were you thinking little lady!" she admonished.